The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: chris319 on April 19, 2020, 03:32:15 AM
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Which game show had the worst music?
The syrupy string music used on the Cullen version of TPIR was horribly dated, but it's up there. They used stock recordings on that show, as opposed to music which was custom composed and recorded for a specific show.
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The theme to Strike It Rich sounded like Hal Hidey forgot about it until due date and then drew up the sheet music while hiding in a men's room stall on his lunch break.
Runner-up: the music package for Sale of the Century I thought was pretty underwhelming aside from the main theme. TVPMM offered a package of music as a goody for subscribers a few years ago. I listened to the prize cues once, shrugged and thought "I have no desire to listen to any of that again" and just deleted the whole thing when I was done.
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TJW '90. It was the same 10 seconds looped ad infinitum.
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On All New Strike It Rich it sounds like Hal Hidey had a music budget of 59 cents, just enough to cover the cost of electricity to power his synthesizer. The rest of the show is awful.
I was watching All New LMAD. They had a small combo including horns but the music just sounded cheesy.
Back in the day, they might have had Paul Taubman, Milton Kaye, Dick Hyman, Sid Wayne, Arlo or Dave Bacal banging away live on an organ that might have been used on some radio soap opera, and maybe some percussion. It didn't sound bad given the music budget they probably had.
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Crosswits '86 has always been a non-favorite of mine. TTD '90 was quite an underwhelming theme as well, especially considering that Henry Mancini composed it.
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I never thought Mort Garson’s futuristic circus music fit with as many shows as it was slapped onto (Gambit, Marble Machine, Runaround, Baffle...), especially as the 70s progressed and we got such rich orchestration on many other shows. Aged horribly IMO.
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I know it was the norm back then, and I'm conditioned towards the current theme since it's so ubiquitous, but the opening/closing theme on the Fleming-era J! was a generic big-band piece that seemed very out-of-place.
The theme to Temptation sounded like it came from a mid-90's CD-ROM game.
The current WoF theme is a horrendously generic one-chord riff. At least it sounds like they paid a real trumpet player to record the solo. (As a musician myself, I'm a wee bit biased against synthesizers subbing for real instruments.)
Speaking of fake horns, the think music for this year's J! College Tournament...dear Lord. I muted the TV every time it came on.
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"Bob and Merrill's Theme" was a fine piece of music, but HS could have used some other cues. They seemed to have only the theme and a win cue based on it. It would have been nice to have different music under the Secret Square prize descriptions (of course, at first they used no music at all, which was even worse) and perhaps a separate SS win cue to distinguish it from a game win.
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Weller's Win Lose or Draw, hands down, made so much more egregious because of the magnificence it replaced. By the time they switched back, nobody was watching to notice.
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I submit the theme to BYUtv's Battle of the Ages: https://www.byutv.org/battleoftheages (https://www.byutv.org/battleoftheages). The show has "Stone / Stanley" cheese written all over it, and the synthesized theme is insulting in its cheapness. It starts as a swinging tune of sorts and ends up inexplicably in march form. My blood boils from frustration every time I hear it.
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On All New Strike It Rich it sounds like Hal Hidey had a music budget of 59 cents, just enough to cover the cost of electricity to power his synthesizer. The rest of the show is awful.
At least with Strike it Rich, you have at least a melody that you could hum after hearing one playing. The other Kline & Friends show from that era, Break the Bank, doesn't even have that and it's the same kind of crappy off-key electronic instrumentation. OK, the intro has a little bit of hummibility but the closing, when it's not drowned out by the applause, has nothing and is much sadder sounding than the more "exciting" intro music.
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Bumper Stumpers I found nothing but annoying.
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Add my vote to Strike it Rich, with a close second and third to TJW'90 and TTD'90
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If memory serves, the Osmond Pyramid didn't use any arrangement of Tuning Up, but some generic "music" that didn't last more than a few seconds.
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Even at 11 years old, I remember being shocked that Henry Mancini gave us something as bland and goofy as the TTD90 theme.
I don’t hate the Strike it Rich theme but it was very repetitive.
I’ve never been a fan of using the Combs Feud theme for the current version. If you’re gonna use a retro version, the 94 theme actually fits better. Honestly, I was never a fan of the remastered theme itself...the drum kit they used sounds so synthetic compared to what the Dawson’s.
Count me in as someone who was never a fan of Mort Garson’s themes.
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I would argue the entire 1990 lineup of games had less than superb themes. Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, The Challengers, Trump Card, Let's Make A Deal, etc.
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If memory serves, the Osmond Pyramid didn't use any arrangement of Tuning Up, but some generic "music" that didn't last more than a few seconds.
Yes. It was just techno noise for about 30 seconds.
Theme songs have become very forgettable over the last 20 years. The current TPiR theme sounds very meh. Something is missing.
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I would argue the entire 1990 lineup of games had less than superb themes. Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, The Challengers, Trump Card, Let's Make A Deal, etc.
I think I could learn the end theme from Quiz Kids Challenge in a few minutes. The biggest challenge would be staying awake to play it for the whole 2 minutes.
https://youtu.be/WHA_LoE7kjc?t=1500
-Jason
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No mention of The Thousand Dollar Bee yet?
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No mention of The Thousand Dollar Bee yet?
Come on now, that's a GIVEN. :-)
Strike it rich's whole music package is lazy, but I think the worst is the return from commercial cue, which sounds like they just mashed down on the keys.
Osmond Pyramid and Feud 99 themes piss me off because they start off with some promise, and just melt into a mess. (admittedly the second Pyramid season theme was slightly-and I mean slightly better)
Wheel of Fortune hasn't had a good theme in what, a decade?
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All-Star Blitz.
Now that's a horrible theme.
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Hot take: the back half of Blockbusters '80. It's like every instrument had a solo at the same time and it sounds like a car wreck.
The '90s was a wasteland for game show music. TJW '90, TTD '90, LMAD '90 (that pan flute makes it age like milk), the Scrabble '93/Scattergories duo, Debt, Shop 'Til You Drop, Quicksilver, and so on.
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Wheel for the last 15 years has been lackluster.
I also didn’t care for the Jeopardy GOAT theme. I know they were going for a “big event” variant, but it just comes off sounding like the regular version’s evil twin.
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My vote goes to Tic Tac '90. Not a terrible piece of music (I mean, Henry Mancini f'god's sake!) but as horribly out of place on that show as PATRIIIICK WAAAAYNE!!!
Three On A Match's music was about 10 or 15 years out of date. The synth-heavy themes coming from Mort Garson and Edd Kalehoff at the time did not help.
Compositionally, just about all of the Stone-Stanley shows sounded like they took their music from the cheapest production library available. My opinion is that unless I missed a few, Match Game '98 was the last good original game show theme.
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On All New Strike It Rich it sounds like Hal Hidey had a music budget of 59 cents, just enough to cover the cost of electricity to power his synthesizer. The rest of the show is awful.
Hey, DX-7s weren't cheap! Or easy to program.
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The Better Sex. Both the theme and the concept of the show... all bad. Never was a fan of it.
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I would argue the entire 1990 lineup of games had less than superb themes. Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, The Challengers, Trump Card, Let's Make A Deal, etc.
I think I could learn the end theme from Quiz Kids Challenge in a few minutes. The biggest challenge would be staying awake to play it for the whole 2 minutes.
https://youtu.be/WHA_LoE7kjc?t=1500
-Jason
After re-hearing Quiz Kids Challenge, does anyone else hear the rhythm to Hot Streak's theme? Listen to Hot Streak first, then QKC...
https://youtu.be/i0fDxu3acPc
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Go. I found this to be very boring and repetitive - 3 minutes of searching for a melody which isn't there.
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The Better Sex. Both the theme and the concept of the show... all bad. Never was a fan of it.
Really? Maybe I'm in the minority here, but despite the "battle of the sexes" gimmick, I enjoyed the game. Of course, YMMV. Definitely agree with you on the theme song, though.
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The Better Sex. Both the theme and the concept of the show... all bad. Never was a fan of it.
Really? Maybe I'm in the minority here, but despite the "battle of the sexes" gimmick, I enjoyed the game. Of course, YMMV. Definitely agree with you on the theme song, though.
I'm gonna call a moratorium here (knowing I opened that can of worms slightly) and instantly agree to disagree on the game. I don't want to derail the thread.
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TTD ‘90, TJW ‘90, and FF ‘99 (from start through when they went back to the original theme during the O’Hurley days.)
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I hated the FF 94 theme in 94, but listening back to it now, it has some good cues. Also, the $OTC reel that came from TVPMM was missing some of the better cues that I still wish were out there.
First place to TJW 90. Out of themes not mentioned yet, I always found the Whammy! theme to be such a huge letdown from the original. TJW, the first rendition without all of the brass also seems like it's just missing several parts.
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I was watching All New LMAD. They had a small combo including horns but the music just sounded cheesy.
On that version, they played a fanfare to close out a dealing segment. After the last horn, there is this weird warbling sound. It sounds exactly like the sound of my washing machine in the '80s when it cycled down from a spin cycle. And I still hear it in that music today. Every. Damn. Time.
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I'm not the biggest fan of the Password Plus theme. It sounds like someone chopped about thirty seconds of "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid and paired it with someone playing a synth with his toes.
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Fun thread. Osmond Pyramid and 1990 Tic Tac Dough certainly on the list. I'm a fan of Hidey's Strike It Rich. One theme that fits in the Mancini Dough underwhelm category is Merv Griffin's Crosswords. The show, in its own bad way, tried to be as tension filled as Jeopardy with rapid play and a hyper host, then you bring on this theme on quaaludes that pulls everything right down. Pleasant melody, bad fit.
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The Better Sex. Both the theme and the concept of the show... all bad. Never was a fan of it.
Horrid - the lyrics too.
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I'm not the biggest fan of the Password Plus theme. It sounds like someone chopped about thirty seconds of "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid and paired it with someone playing a synth with his toes.
That said, however, as demonstrated at GSC7 some 20+ years ago, you can dance the Macarena to it. :P
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While we're on the subject of Music, can I throw in Every second Counts for one of the most...bizarre music packages out there?
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I'm not the biggest fan of the Password Plus theme. It sounds like someone chopped about thirty seconds of "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid and paired it with someone playing a synth with his toes.
Which is interesting since to my ear there is no synth in that arrangement.
I will grant the slightly Caribbean vibe, though it predates “Under the Sea” by many years. Also, are you disparaging one of the most charming musical theatre songs ever written? Thom’s fightin’ words! ;)
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It isn't BAD, but Las Vegas Gambit's theme reminds me of something from one of the early Care Bears TV specials. (whereas the music where the logo forms is much more memorable/dramatic. Almost like how the music that plays over "And now a game of high stakes..."/"It's 1978..." > the main High Rollers theme. Mind you I like the HR theme more than LVG)
Agreed on Donnymid, current Wheel. Can probably fit LOTS from the 2000s and up here.
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It isn't BAD, but Las Vegas Gambit's theme reminds me of something from one of the early Care Bears TV specials.
While we're on that subject..........the piece playing just as you hear "From the Tropicana Hotel..." always sounded like it belonged in one of those little films that you'd see on Sesame Street (kid taking the llama to a dentist, kids at the doctor's office, etc.).
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One more note, from an admitted music theory geek...
If anything, Bob Cobert may have been the one who composed the Blockbusters theme at the last minute, since it's just a basic three-chord blues progression. Playing off what Tim said about the last part being "cacophonous"...I wouldn't be surprised if they just told the studio horn players to go ham after playing the melody and sax solo backgrounds, since the arranger didn't have a full chart ready for them. Obligatory "idle speculation" disclaimer, of course.
Strike It Rich, though still sounding cheaply-made, at least has that iii-vi-IV-bvi twist toward the end of the main melody that's more interesting to my ears musically.
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One more note, from an admitted music theory geek...
If anything, Bob Cobert may have been the one who composed the Blockbusters theme at the last minute, since it's just a basic three-chord blues progression. Playing off what Tim said about the last part being "cacophonous"...I wouldn't be surprised if they just told the studio horn players to go ham after playing the melody and sax solo backgrounds, since the arranger didn't have a full chart ready for them. Obligatory "idle speculation" disclaimer, of course.
Strike It Rich, though still sounding cheaply-made, at least has that iii-vi-IV-bvi twist toward the end of the main melody that's more interesting to my ears musically.
I'm under the impression that most themes back in the day were composed within a couple weeks of the show airing. IIRC, the $ale music package was put together around December 3 and 4, 1982, just a couple weeks before the show began taping.
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It isn't BAD, but Las Vegas Gambit's theme reminds me of something from one of the early Care Bears TV specials.
While we're on that subject..........the piece playing just as you hear "From the Tropicana Hotel..." always sounded like it belonged in one of those little films that you'd see on Sesame Street (kid taking the llama to a dentist, kids at the doctor's office, etc.).
And then they threw in a random kazoo. :P
The one thing that kinda bugged me about the Heatter-Quigley themes - and this may be more of a Stan Worth thing - was that, while the themes were catchy, there was never really any flow to them. Some felt like Stan took a few different compositions and stitched them into a three-minute piece. The Split Second theme definitely feels this way, and I saw this as someone who loves that theme song.
I always loved the Blockbusters theme, but the eighth notes that ended the first and second verses (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vddbWs8TOLk&t=0m21s) always felt so....dry. When the soloists do their thing towards the end of the theme, the horn player does turn them into jazzier 16th notes.
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Hot Potato. There's no melody to the main theme, and the end theme is something completely different.
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Which game show had the worst music?
The syrupy string music used on the Cullen version of TPIR was horribly dated, but it's up there...
I have to chuckle. The long-running Cullen Price went off the air in 1965. Considering that the games and soaps back then were demographically aimed at women aged from the mid 20s to around 60, and not at adolescent, or pre-pubescent, or teenage boys … what kind of music would you expect them to use? The target demo's preferred tunes, at that time, tended toward stringy, easy listening, “beautiful music”. The most toe-tapping one could expect of them, might be something along the lines of “Mairzy Doats and Doazy Doats”.
And btw, the theme from the Cullen TPIR is still among this old rocker's favorite GS themes to listen to.
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Ditto on Las Vegas Gambit. That big bombastic open is fitting to me, considering the setting. Then...sounds like a generic talk show theme. I feel like I'm gonna watch Wink talk to the couples about marital troubles than play cards and trivia.
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Some felt like Stan took a few different compositions and stitched them into a three-minute piece.
1974 High Rollers had enough in it that it could pass for his demo reel.
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Some felt like Stan took a few different compositions and stitched them into a three-minute piece.
1974 High Rollers had enough in it that it could pass for his demo reel.
Absolutely. That's another one of my favorites, but it's goes all over the place at times.
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The Neighbors. Bad theme music for an equally bad game show. And I'm quite nostalgic for the Three On A Match theme. I wish I could have seen the remainder of its run after May 1972.
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Donnymid soundtrack/package was really bad. Like a early 90s techno song released a decade late.
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And I'm quite nostalgic for the Three On A Match theme.
As am I - and for its prize music. Does that exist in the clear somewhere I've missed?
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Some felt like Stan took a few different compositions and stitched them into a three-minute piece.
1974 High Rollers had enough in it that it could pass for his demo reel.
Absolutely. That's another one of my favorites, but it's goes all over the place at times.
At least High Rollers had a musical theme running through the entire piece, even if it went off in different ways.
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On that version, they played a fanfare to close out a dealing segment. After the last horn, there is this weird warbling sound. It sounds exactly like the sound of my washing machine in the '80s when it cycled down from a spin cycle. And I still hear it in that music today. Every. Damn. Time.
You had a weird sounding washing machine.
I've always thought that extra sound was a whistle, like a referee's whistle with a ball bearing in it.
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Though I did a little work for Blockbusters, I've no idea how long Bob Cobert had to compose, arrange and record a music package. My fading memory says it went into production in earnest (having been green lit) about six weeks before it debuted. That means construction was started on the set and I assume the music dealt with.
What I don't know is how long it would take to produce a music package under ideal circumstances, and whether some of the music companies had tunes already composed and arranged in the event of a rush job. I'm under the impression that the Password Plus music was done on rather short notice. I remember Howard Felsher saying he "hadn't done a thing" about music, after I was hired on December 11, 1978, about 2 weeks before the first rehearsals.
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And I'm quite nostalgic for the Three On A Match theme.
As am I - and for its prize music. Does that exist in the clear somewhere I've missed?
Would absolutely love to hear it someday, before I become too decrepit to recognize it.
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What I don't know is how long it would take to produce a music package under ideal circumstances, and whether some of the music companies had tunes already composed and arranged in the event of a rush job. I'm under the impression that the Password Plus music was done on rather short notice. I remember Howard Felsher saying he "hadn't done a thing" about music, after I was hired on December 11, 1978, about 2 weeks before the first rehearsals.
I've always wondered if companies like Score, with several different composers working for them, would always have an existing library of ideas they were working on, partial demos recorded, etc. which hadn't been "claimed" yet, that producers could choose from if they needed something in a rush? With all the shows they worked on over the years, it would be surprising for me if every time a show needed music from them that they'd start from scratch. Aren't composers always working on stuff?
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I've always wondered if companies like Score, with several different composers working for them, would always have an existing library of ideas they were working on, partial demos recorded, etc. which hadn't been "claimed" yet, that producers could choose from if they needed something in a rush? With all the shows they worked on over the years, it would be surprising for me if every time a show needed music from them that they'd start from scratch. Aren't composers always working on stuff?
Thing is, especially by the 80's, most game show themes were taken from existing music.
Hit Man theme = "Worlds Away" by Pablo Cruise
Press Your Luck theme = "Flash" by Keith Mansfield
Blockbusters 87 theme = "Run, Don't Walk" by Richard Myhill
Hot Potato open and close = "Stop, Look and Listen" by Donna Summer, "You Make Me Feel" by Sylvester
Body Language theme = "Working Girl March" (though I would argue the Classic Concentration theme sounds more like it)
Whew!, Go, Wordplay, and Dream House are other examples shows that used existing music for their pilots and simply borrowed elements of them for the series music.
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Edd Kalehoff has a library of music already performed by him on synthesizer. He offers to customize any of the tunes if needed.
What existing music was Whew! taken from? I thought Alan Thicke did a good job with that show.
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Edd Kalehoff has a library of music already performed by him on synthesizer. He offers to customize any of the tunes if needed.
What existing music was Whew! taken from? I thought Alan Thicke did a good job with that show.
Unless he was talking about the Whew pilot, I don't remember any song that came close to Thicke's theme.
/TANLMAD theme seems to be loosely based on "Let's Hear It For The Boy", by Deniece Williams.
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For pilots, they sometimes use any old piece of existing recorded music before going to the expense of composing, orchestrating and recording the real music, in case the pilot is rejected. cf Bullseye.
The late Bob Cobert did a nifty job of redoing "Tuning Up" for the CBS version of Pyramid.
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And I'm a little amused at Goodson's recycling when they did commission a full package for a pilot. TKO got reused on Body Talk within the year, and then moved on to lottery shows. They got lucky in a sense when MG90 sold, and all that new music could go to good use. But in the case of Oddball, they gave that think music a second life, first on the MG90 pilot, and then Price is Right (still to this day!). The end of an Oddball loss cue became the big ol' "you lost" horn for the endgame on Classic Concentration.
-Jason
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For Password Plus, Bob Israel proposed that we use the TPIR cue used for "Most Expensive", but it was turned down.
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The late Bob Cobert did a nifty job of redoing "Tuning Up" for the CBS version of Pyramid.
I thought so, too. To me, the original sounded robotic.
I didn't mind the Better Sex scatting or the game. I thought they should bring in a live band to do Cullen's Blockbusters.
I hated the Joker's Wild whistling. The original was one of the best game themes ever. How is whistling appropriate to jokers, slot machines or a game where knowledge is king? Las Vegas Gambit stunk, too.
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Las Vegas Gambit stunk, too.
I feel like this is an enjoyable alternative to the the LVG theme...
https://youtu.be/Eyj7w8QGwxg?t=44 (https://youtu.be/Eyj7w8QGwxg?t=44)
Ryan.
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For Password Plus, Bob Israel proposed that we use the TPIR cue used for "Most Expensive", but it was turned down.
Second Thoughts?
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For Password Plus, Bob Israel proposed that we use the TPIR cue used for "Most Expensive", but it was turned down.
Second Thoughts?
Yes.
I don't know how they came up with the music we ultimately used in such a short time.
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Just played Second Thoughts to refresh my memory of how it sounds. It's definitely better as a prize cue and not a main theme. The second part of the cue sounds like the inspiration for the Password Plus commercial cue actually used.
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As a music geek, I’m finding this thread fascinating.
Thing is, especially by the 80's, most game show themes were taken from existing music.
Hit Man theme = "Worlds Away" by Pablo Cruise
Press Your Luck theme = "Flash" by Keith Mansfield
Blockbusters 87 theme = "Run, Don't Walk" by Richard Myhill
Hot Potato open and close = "Stop, Look and Listen" by Donna Summer, "You Make Me Feel" by Sylvester
Body Language theme = "Working Girl March" (though I would argue the Classic Concentration theme sounds more like it)
Whew!, Go, Wordplay, and Dream House are other examples shows that used existing music for their pilots and simply borrowed elements of them for the series music.
Interesting. I wouldn’t have probably made the connection between “Working Girl March” and the BL/CC themes, but I see your point. Though the Body Language theme—the bass line at least—has almost always reminded me of Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”
Also... I wasn’t familiar with “Flash” except from the Ludia PYL video game. And here I was ready to declare it as one of the worst themes (if we can count video game-only themes for the purposes of this thread) because of how closely it ripped off the PYL TV theme. Apparently the TV theme was the actual ripoff. ;D
Though that leaves a question in my mind... Why would they have decided to license an actual song for the PYL video game? I assumed they didn’t use the TV theme because of some rights issue (though I was surprised Fremantle seemingly didn’t own it free & clear for that purpose), but I’d expect it would cost them even more to license a “real” song.
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I feel like this is an enjoyable alternative to the the LVG theme...
https://youtu.be/Eyj7w8QGwxg?t=44 (https://youtu.be/Eyj7w8QGwxg?t=44)
Ryan.
Yes! They should also have worked the deer into the game.
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As a music geek, I’m finding this thread fascinating.
Thing is, especially by the 80's, most game show themes were taken from existing music.
Hit Man theme = "Worlds Away" by Pablo Cruise
Press Your Luck theme = "Flash" by Keith Mansfield
Blockbusters 87 theme = "Run, Don't Walk" by Richard Myhill
Hot Potato open and close = "Stop, Look and Listen" by Donna Summer, "You Make Me Feel" by Sylvester
Body Language theme = "Working Girl March" (though I would argue the Classic Concentration theme sounds more like it)
Whew!, Go, Wordplay, and Dream House are other examples shows that used existing music for their pilots and simply borrowed elements of them for the series music.
Interesting. I wouldn’t have probably made the connection between “Working Girl March” and the BL/CC themes, but I see your point. Though the Body Language theme—the bass line at least—has almost always reminded me of Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”
Also... I wasn’t familiar with “Flash” except from the Ludia PYL video game. And here I was ready to declare it as one of the worst themes (if we can count video game-only themes for the purposes of this thread) because of how closely it ripped off the PYL TV theme. Apparently the TV theme was the actual ripoff. ;D
Though that leaves a question in my mind... Why would they have decided to license an actual song for the PYL video game? I assumed they didn’t use the TV theme because of some rights issue (though I was surprised Fremantle seemingly didn’t own it free & clear for that purpose), but I’d expect it would cost them even more to license a “real” song.
I wouldn't quite call it a "real" song. It's a production library piece from KPM. It's possible that KPM's licensing fee was cheaper than Score Productions' was.
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"Second Thoughts" may have been composed by Walt Levinsky. Lots of brass and no MOOG.
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And I'm a little amused at Goodson's recycling when they did commission a full package for a pilot. TKO got reused on Body Talk within the year, and then moved on to lottery shows. They got lucky in a sense when MG90 sold, and all that new music could go to good use. But in the case of Oddball, they gave that think music a second life, first on the MG90 pilot, and then Price is Right (still to this day!). The end of an Oddball loss cue became the big ol' "you lost" horn for the endgame on Classic Concentration.
-Jason
I haven't heard the loss cue to Oddball - I have only seen the pilot that is on YouTube. Is the Oddball package anywhere (there's a joke in there somewhere)? I love the main theme and would love to hear a clear version if it's out there somewhere.
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As a music geek, I’m finding this thread fascinating.
Also... I wasn’t familiar with “Flash” except from the Ludia PYL video game. And here I was ready to declare it as one of the worst themes (if we can count video game-only themes for the purposes of this thread) because of how closely it ripped off the PYL TV theme. Apparently the TV theme was the actual ripoff. ;D
Though that leaves a question in my mind... Why would they have decided to license an actual song for the PYL video game? I assumed they didn’t use the TV theme because of some rights issue (though I was surprised Fremantle seemingly didn’t own it free & clear for that purpose), but I’d expect it would cost them even more to license a “real” song.
From what I understand, the PYL package was found to be unusable several years ago, and Terry Wilkie from TVPMM mentioned that the Carruthers family does have their own reel, but they have declined to release it.
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Press Your Luck theme = "Flash" by Keith Mansfield
That was so close to the actual series theme that I had always assumed that the pilot used an early draft or alternate version of the package that was, in reality, written to sound like the pilot theme.
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Going back to the subject---I can also name "Catch Phrase" as a non-fave. Almost everything else the Ellis's did seemed better.
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I wouldn't quite call it a "real" song. It's a production library piece from KPM. It's possible that KPM's licensing fee was cheaper than Score Productions' was.
Fair enough. I’m not as knowledgeable on smooth jazz/instrumental easy listening as some other styles (most production tracks would probably go into that category, if I had to give them a genre label). And since tyshaun1’s list included some more mainstream songs, I thought maybe I’d missed something that was a minor hit. ;D
From what I understand, the PYL package was found to be usuable several years ago, and Terry Wilkie from TVPMM mentioned that the Carruthers family does have their own reel, but they have declined to release it.
I guess that explains why some of the classic cues were missing from PYL 2019. Though if Fremantle was able to remake the theme for PYL ‘19, I’m kind of surprised it would have been out of reach for the Ludia game. Maybe the Carruthers family just thought they could make more money licensing the theme for TV than for some piddly video game.*
(*I’m assuming the PYL ‘19 theme is an approved remake, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. If it’s not an approved remake, though, it’s a ripoff so close that Vanilla Ice would be proud.)
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Going back to the subject---I can also name "Catch Phrase" as a non-fave. Almost everything else the Ellis's did seemed better.
That reminds me. The Scrabble '93 and Scattergories themes. Did Marc Ellis just switch around notes and call it good?
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I wouldn't quite call it a "real" song. It's a production library piece from KPM. It's possible that KPM's licensing fee was cheaper than Score Productions' was.
Fair enough. I’m not as knowledgeable on smooth jazz/instrumental easy listening as some other styles (most production tracks would probably go into that category, if I had to give them a genre label). And since tyshaun1’s list included some more mainstream songs, I thought maybe I’d missed something that was a minor hit. ;D
From what I understand, the PYL package was found to be usuable several years ago, and Terry Wilkie from TVPMM mentioned that the Carruthers family does have their own reel, but they have declined to release it.
I guess that explains why some of the classic cues were missing from PYL 2019. Though if Fremantle was able to remake the theme for PYL ‘19, I’m kind of surprised it would have been out of reach for the Ludia game. Maybe the Carruthers family just thought they could make more money licensing the theme for TV than for some piddly video game.*
(*I’m assuming the PYL ‘19 theme is an approved remake, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. If it’s not an approved remake, though, it’s a ripoff so close that Vanilla Ice would be proud.)
Remember, when Ricki Lake's Game Show Marathon played out many years ago, all the original PYL cues were used except for one: The opening vamp, which was "re-created" for the PYL day.
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I don't think I have an answer right now, but I feel like we're being pretty generous to the game shows of the past decade or two.
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Remember, when Ricki Lake's Game Show Marathon played out many years ago, all the original PYL cues were used except for one: The opening vamp, which was "re-created" for the PYL day.
Only the closing cue was used. The opening was a weak MIDI version, the prize cue was the Game Show Marathon main theme.
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All I know is that the Las Vegas Gambit opening 'poobz', Gambit board graphics, and sound effects creep me out to this day.
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The Chase (Usa) has to be the worst music sounds like left stock music.
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Bumping for a second because I want to carry a point over from another topic.
As previously mentioned the Tic Tac Dough 90 theme was rather disappointing output from Henry Mancini. One thing I couldn’t help but notice listening to it the other night that it resembles a circus theme and not in a good way. Of course the show was a circus in some other ways too, but am I the only one who hears that and gets a vibe like that? Maybe that would’ve been more fitting on The Joker’s Wild instead...
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Bumping for a second because I want to carry a point over from another topic.
As previously mentioned the Tic Tac Dough 90 theme was rather disappointing output from Henry Mancini. One thing I couldn’t help but notice listening to it the other night that it resembles a circus theme and not in a good way. Of course the show was a circus in some other ways too, but am I the only one who hears that and gets a vibe like that? Maybe that would’ve been more fitting on The Joker’s Wild instead...
I somehow missed this thread the first time around.
I wouldn't be surprised if Henry Mancini's Tic Tac Dough '90 theme was repurposed from something else (which wouldn't be the first time; it's not like Quincy Jones wrote "Chump Change" intending it for Now You See It). If you look at the tail end of Mancini's film score career, it's mostly Blake Edwards movies and a few animated films--it sounds like a kid-oriented song that wound up a game show theme.
There were a lot of lousy 1980s game show themes. Synthesizers were used quite often (probably because it was cheaper than a full orchestra and sounded current); they've dated pretty badly.
MGP themes in the 1980s actually stand out for how good they were in comparison. I admit I don't love Trivia Trap (which might reflect on my not liking the show at all), but almost everything else from that era was a creative revamp of an older theme (MG '90, TTTT '90), or a fun new theme to replace something that had dated (Card Sharks '86 sounded a little like an instrumental track from a Missing Persons album, but it worked).
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While we're on the subject of Music, can I throw in Every second Counts for one of the most...bizarre music packages out there?
Interesting tidbit; one of the prize cues from “Every Second Counts”, was re-worked from the original 10-second opening vamp from the first season (1980) of “Fight Back! With David Horowitz”. Both programs were Group W productions.
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There were a lot of lousy 1980s game show themes. Synthesizers were used quite often (probably because it was cheaper than a full orchestra and sounded current); they've dated pretty badly.
I just listened to the Hot Streak theme mentioned upthread on Page 2, and I could see 1986 me having the same complaint I would about today's themes: it's generic and forgettable. And given how much I love the Ellis's Reg Grundy themes, that surprises me.
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I'm not a fan of the the "revamped" $100K Pyramid, Card Sharks, or Press Your Luck themes.
They sound like cheap old-school MIDI's of the original versions.
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I like the new Card Sharks theme as a theme for Joel McHale's Card Sharks. It's got a vibe to it that works for me better than the original would in the current setting.
Agreed on the other two, though.
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I don't mind the themes themselves. I've expressed this before, but I'd be happy if they simply played more than the same cue going to and coming back from every commercial. Match Game ends its theme the same exact way every time, and it sounds odd, like they're trying to make a square peg fit, if that makes sense.
I think I'm more bugged by this because the original themes had a vast library, or in the case of Card Sharks, both Perry and Eubanks's themes were long enough to where you could use a different part of the song as a cue. With Feud, they simply use the Combs theme, but use none of the other cues that would flow much better.
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I don't mind the themes themselves. I've expressed this before, but I'd be happy if they simply played more than the same cue going to and coming back from every commercial. Match Game ends its theme the same exact way every time, and it sounds odd, like they're trying to make a square peg fit, if that makes sense.
I think I'm more bugged by this because the original themes had a vast library, or in the case of Card Sharks, both Perry and Eubanks's themes were long enough to where you could use a different part of the song as a cue. With Feud, they simply use the Combs theme, but use none of the other cues that would flow much better.
Stoker of "Mosher and Stoker" claims that they composed the entire set of cues for both shows, it's Fremantle who chooses not to use them.
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I'm not a fan of the the "revamped" $100K Pyramid, Card Sharks, or Press Your Luck themes.
They sound like cheap old-school MIDI's of the original versions.
Which is interesting, because (at least in the case of Pyramid), there was a live horn section on the recording session.
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I'm not a fan of the the "revamped" $100K Pyramid, Card Sharks, or Press Your Luck themes.
They sound like cheap old-school MIDI's of the original versions.
YES THANK YOU I'M NOT ALONE.
Pyramid: gives the melody to the trombone instead of the trumpets, forcing it an octave lower which prevents it from standing out. Then there's that one measure in the B phrase that originally went "da-dum da-dum dum dum" (this is professional terminology here) but is replaced in the new version with an unresolved G that stretches out the entire bar. It's like writing an entire sentence and then leaving off the last
PYL/CS: Use actual instruments please. Or at least samples that sound more like actual instruments. And chords. Use actual chords instead of double-voicing the tonic one octave down.
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I like the new Card Sharks theme as a theme for Joel McHale's Card Sharks. It's got a vibe to it that works for me better than the original would in the current setting.
Old Card Sharks and New Card Sharks... together at last! ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHnYKuYS4S8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHnYKuYS4S8)
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I actually find the new CS theme to be endearing because it goes all-in on the clapping. The PYL theme isn't good, but an attempt was made, whereas something like The Wall doesn't really try at all.
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I've been watching Monty's BTC with the new episode additions, and when I took notice of the music played during the stunts, sometimes it was quite jarring.
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PYL/CS: Use actual instruments please. Or at least samples that sound more like actual instruments. And chords. Use actual chords instead of double-voicing the tonic one octave down.
PYL was all synthesizers and a drum kit for the original so it's no surprise that they'd do the same for the remake. That being said, it feels like they phoned it in outside of making sure they hit the main notes. I would really like to hear the entire theme they composed instead the first 10 seconds looped over and over, but I don't have much hope it would be any better.
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Chain Reaction Dylan Lane version
Temptation (All New Sale) The Theme song sounded like a 90s talk show.
Lingo Bill Engvall version the theme sounds generic and bland.
Family Feud- I wish they used more cues then the same 20 seconds.
The US Chase, The UK Chase music is amazing. I don't know why gsn decided to make crappy music . The music is terrible it sounds like stock music.
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Any theme song where you can barely hear what’s being played is a big pain for me.
Pyramid had one of the worst. I mean, the show itself was kinda tossed together at the last minute (or had that feel to it), why not have a theme that sounds like someone’s just pressing random keys on a synth?
I knock the 1970s Let’s Make a Deal for that as well, even though the theme is pretty secondary.
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Any theme song where you can barely hear what’s being played is a big pain for me.
I agtee with you on this point. One example of this was TTTT during the psychadelic set era. At this point they shot the show at the cavernous Ed Sullivan Theater. You could barely hear the theme a lot of the time ‐- almost sounded like it came from the PA system inside the theater instead of a direct audio channel from the control room.
I don't believe that sound issue improved until they moved to the NBC studios at 30 Rock.
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Pyramid had one of the worst. I mean, the show itself was kinda tossed together at the last minute (or had that feel to it), why not have a theme that sounds like someone’s just pressing random keys on a synth?
Do you mean the 70s version, "Tuning Up"? I'll give you it's not a model of melodic elegance, and there are some WEIRD growly sounds in there, but it doesn't sound like anything else that was on TV at the time, so I have to give it props for distinctiveness.
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I figured he meant Donnymid. (If memory serves, the GSN version used an arrangement of "Tuning Up".
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I figured he meant Donnymid. (If memory serves, the GSN version used an arrangement of "Tuning Up".
Correct, although I believe they occasionally used the Cobert theme from ‘82. The GSN theme sounded like it was composed on a Casio keyboard.
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Correct, although I believe they occasionally used the Cobert theme from ‘82. The GSN theme sounded like it was composed on a Casio keyboard.
I remember someone saying that they used the Cobert theme in studio, but used the Casio theme for air. Don't know why they felt the need to change it.
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Licensing?
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I figured he meant Donnymid.
You figure correctly.
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After rewatching Number Please tonight, I'm throwing that show's music into this "worst music" category. Ew.
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I just watched part of an episode of Break the Bank from '85.
It starts off decently, gets really dramatic out of nowhere, then just becomes a jumbled mess.
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I've always wondered if companies like Score, with several different composers working for them, would always have an existing library of ideas they were working on, partial demos recorded, etc. which hadn't been "claimed" yet, that producers could choose from if they needed something in a rush? With all the shows they worked on over the years, it would be surprising for me if every time a show needed music from them that they'd start from scratch. Aren't composers always working on stuff?
Thing is, especially by the 80's, most game show themes were taken from existing music.
Body Language theme = "Working Girl March" (though I would argue the Classic Concentration theme sounds more like it)
Actually, "Working Girl March" was used in the unsold pilot "Star Words" (hosted by Nipsey Russell; he was dancing to the music at the start of the show and at the end of the show he was with Charles Nelson Reilly and Patty Duke Astin and he said they were "gonna boogie on outta here. Eat your heart out, Richard Simmons." where they began to "boogie on out".
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Since we are on the topic of music, I have often wondered about to seem to “Every Second Counts” (US run). The theme sounds very similar to the original theme song to “Fight Back! With David Horowitz“. As both shows were Westinghouse productions, and neither list a theme music composer, would it be safe to assume that one - or both - programs used stock music from KPM?
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I just watched part of an episode of Break the Bank from '85.
It starts off decently, gets really dramatic out of nowhere, then just becomes a jumbled mess.
That fell into my “I can’t hear it” file; every time I tried to listen to it, I couldn’t hear much of anything.
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"Bob and Merrill's Theme" was a fine piece of music, but HS could have used some other cues. They seemed to have only the theme and a win cue based on it.
I know what you mean. Though to be fair, they did have those ascending brass notes when introducing the stars one-by-one. And when a contestant picked the Secret Square, there was that Bugle Charge mixed with "pow pow pow" sound effects.
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"Bob and Merrill's Theme" was a fine piece of music, but HS could have used some other cues. They seemed to have only the theme and a win cue based on it.
I know what you mean. Though to be fair, they did have those ascending brass notes when introducing the stars one-by-one. And when a contestant picked the Secret Square, there was that Bugle Charge mixed with "pow pow pow" sound effects.
Yes on other cues, and a hearty yes on the Secret Square cue.
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The theme from The New Liar's Club from '88 sounds like it was written on a Casio keyboard in 20 minutes.
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The theme from The New Liar's Club from '88 sounds like it was written on a Casio keyboard in 20 minutes.
Sounded like Spyro Gyra outtakes